Solitary Pisces
by evilkatz
Summary: Gundam 00. Lyle Dylandy knew the second his twin brother died.


Solitary Pisces

By evilkat

* * *

Lyle Dylandy knew the second his twin brother had died. Despite however many miles or years separated them, he just _knew. _He had been sitting at the tiny table in the equally tiny kitchen of his cramped apartment drinking his morning coffee and reading the newspaper when it hit.

It wasn't a sharp pain or even a jolt for that matter. Nor was it some overly dramatic sort of psychic "goodbye" from Neil himself. No, he had just been sitting there, coffee mug halfway to his mouth, eyes following the lines on the page when a sudden, almost oppressive, feeling of emptiness came over him. The invisible umbilical cord that connected them all this time severed abruptly. Up until now, Lyle had never really given much thought to that psychic bond, twin mumbo-jumbo. There had been a time long ago when they were attuned enough to finish each other's sentences and know what the other was thinking on rare moments of clarity. Not since that one, horrible day though. To suddenly lose all of the white noise that had always been buzzing in the back of his head for as long as he could remember still came with all the shock of a sucker punch to the gut.

_Gone. _He knew it in an instant. Neil was gone forever.

He called into work shortly afterwards and told them he wouldn't be able to come in. He guessed that the dead tone in his voice was the reason they didn't question him about it. He supposed he should have felt at least a little guilty for not crying, but all his tears were used up long ago. So he sat in his cramped apartment, in a state bordering on despondency, and waited.

After a week had passed with no official notification, Lyle decided to go back to work. He figured that whatever his brother had gotten himself involved with had to be something he wanted no part of. Jobs on the other side of the law didn't exactly notify the next of kin in the event of death. Lyle figured the less he knew the better. Neil had always been on some foolhardy quest about something, even more so after their parents and sister had been killed. Neil often questioned his brother's lack of hatred and need for vengeance in the years immediately following the loss of their family. He questioned it until he could no longer remain and finally walked out of Lyle's life just shy of their eighteenth birthday. They hadn't spoken since.

Nearly a year after the bond went dead; he was surprised to find a man, most likely a few years his junior, standing at his family's gravesite. He stared at Lyle as if he were a ghost. There was only one explanation for that.

"You knew my brother," he stated flatly.

The other took a moment to compose himself before softly replying, "I did."

This stranger had an accent that Lyle couldn't place. He was tall; perhaps even just a bit taller than he was. The black hair and almond-shaped eyes denoted an Asian descent, but his build and the light shade of his bluish-grey eyes gave him away as a mix of some kind. Japanese or maybe an HRL mutt.

"He never spoke of me?" Lyle asked cocking his head to the side.

"He never said you were still alive and he didn't mention you were a twin."

The young man's posture became somewhat defiant with that last remark. It was almost as if he was hurt that this information had been kept from him. The corner of Lyle's mouth twitched into an almost-grin. If it there was one thing Neil was good at, it was keeping secrets.

"Why are you here?"

The other man turned and knelt down to place his bouquet of lilies in front of the headstone. "I was paying respect to a friend," he replied.

Lyle came up beside him and leaned down to place his own flowers beside the young man's. "What happened to my brother?" he asked carefully.

"He died," the other said without looking at him. It was the confirmation Lyle had been waiting for, but it still hurt more than he imagined it would to hear those words.

"His body? What hap--"

"There was none to recover," the young man interrupted as he stood suddenly. A gust of wind caught the fall of hair obscuring the right side of his face and revealed a gold colored iris and a jagged scar that split the eyebrow.

Lyle couldn't help the surprised gasp that escaped his lips. He had never seen such wildly mismatched eyes before.

"I have to go," the other man said as he pushed past Lyle.

"No! Wait!" Lyle practically screamed, clapping his hand down onto this strange person's shoulder to prevent his escape. "Please," he said gently as he spun the man around to face him. "Please talk to me. I have so many questions."

The younger man looked at him with sorrow-filled eyes. He clearly wanted to flee, but after a drawn out silence, he nodded his acquiescence. Lyle visibly relaxed. Perhaps some part of him still felt guilty that he had never tried to reconcile with his twin. Whatever it was, the need to know what happened to Neil grew more and more the longer he stayed in this man's presence. Just who is this man and what was his relationship to his brother? Lyle had to know because the white noise, the mental static that he had known with his brother had suddenly begun buzz in the back of his head once again.

-End-


End file.
